Lawman depends a lot on your GM  
  but are really nice to play  

Edgerunners live on the Edge, that's part of the game (p.28), Lawman are supposed to enforce the law. How do they fit in a Cyberpunk crew ?

Of course you can reskin a Lawman as stated in Collecting the Random.

"Some say the NCPD is just another gang. So, the Lawman becomes a Ganger pretty easy. Your Backup no longer arrives in the form of cops but in the form of fellow gang members or allied gangers who owe you and your group favors."

But let's try to stick to the initial concept a bit.

Lawman in Night City

Let's have a look at Justice and Lawmen stuff in the CRB.

“Although badly underfunded and strapped for supplies, Night City has its own Police, Fire, and Emergency services. Maintained by a levy on the local corps and neighborhoods, these small units are heavily armed and operate citywide.”

"The more money the locals had to throw at the problem, the better these ad hoc police units were, with Corporate "rent-a-cops" getting the best vehicles and hardware overall. With their limited assets, Lawman bribery is common and corruption the standard. "

"The only real survivors of the old Night City PD are the members of the C-SWAT aka MAX-TAC aka " The Cyberpsycho" Squad. Incorruptible to the last and still led by their commander, Max Hammerman, this lone bastion of the NCPD maintains an iron-fisted control over any and all suspected cyberpsychotic elements in the City"

Security Services

"These are represented by the thousands of uniformed "rent-a-cops" hired to patrol urban areas, office blocs, and upscale living areas. The largest of these is Lazarus Security, the heir to the 2020s' ubiquitous Arasaka and Militech. These Security Services have arrest authority, but maintain no jails; prisoners are remanded to whatever local Justice/Security Facility is in the area."

Freelance Police

"A variation of personal bodyguards, these are Solos hired to provide security and protection for a neighborhood. Protectors "patrol the beat" of their area, dealing with threats as they turn up. Freelance Police have arrest authority, as granted by the neighborhood they work for. They sometimes have holding cells, but more often as not remand prisoners to the local Hall of Justice/Security Facility."

As you can see NCPD is not strong anymore in 2045. A lawman will struggle, but the hierarchy is not thight anymore, it's easy to for you to take any roads you want. Lawmen live as pack, but it's not anymore the big bad NCPD, you can build stuff from that. You can build stories.

It's all about RP

It's time to do a bit of work, of course your character is a Lawman, of course the Edgerunners don't make life easy for you, but the Corporations are worse. The Corpo cops are dangerous killers with Corpo badges. And they talk to you like you're their dog. They feel superior because of money and immunity. But you know they're the dogs on the leash, not you.

You're not playing a Role, your playing a character. Your Lifepath should help you, for example p.65 they ask you a question : "How Corrupt is Your Group?" That's a pretty important question.

The Dirty cop

Plain and simple, you're a Lawman, but you like money and power, you're going to abuse the later in order to get the former. Edgerunning is a way to make money buy not praying on the weak, because you used to be a goof cop when you were young. It's was not just for the money.

The Vigilante

You are tired of all the politicians and corporations dirty ways of doing thing. Everything is corrupted around you. Now you are the hand of the blind Justice. But you need to go deeper in the filth of this world. And you know, Edgerunners aren't the real ennemy, Corpo and Politician are. When Lawman cannot do their job because of the political pressure... mercs can.

The Robin Hood

You need money, not for yourself, but for a charity. A charity that is close to your heart, perhaps a charity set up some time ago in honour of your late daughter, perhaps a charity that your mother supports and for which she has asked you to help. Whatever the reason, you don't earn enough money and you won't accept bribes, nor will you extort money from the weak. Edgerunning was your answer. You are picky about the type of job you accept, but there are enough bastards out there, that you don't have to pray on the weakest

The PI

This one is a little more tricky. You're not a cop anymore, you are a Private Investigator, but you also have many friends and favor to be paid in the NCPD. That's how you got the Backup. And also maybe because someone important in higher echelon of NC (to be defined with your GM) cares about you, and he has given orders, he will not intervene directly, but you've got Backup. Your gonna play a Noir genre character.

The rent a cop

That's just another job, you do your stuff, minimum risk. But your legit, you have one foot in the society. But the other one is underground. Your daily job is just a cover for your real one. Edgerunning, that's a bigger thrill and I least you get far better eddies out of it.

Not easy to call

"When in danger, you can call on Backup from a group of your Backup Rank or lower. As an Action, you attempt to roll equal or lower than your Backup Rank on a d10 to get someone to respond to your call. If you abuse this, your Boss will throw you off the force or fine you as they see fit.

After someone responds to your call, you roll a d6 to find out in how many Rounds your backup will arrive on the scene. If you roll a 6 on this roll, instead of your typical backup, the backup that arrives will be of the next highest level of backup, unless you are Rank 10, in which case two separate backup groups will arrive. If nobody responds to your call, you can always try your backup call again next Turn." CRB p.158

As you can see, rank 4 you need to roll 4- with a 1D10. That's 40% to succeed. You can do it again the next round. But each time it's an Action. And they might not arrive fast enough. And you might no be in a credible place for them to intervene. That's a lot of work for the GM.

In term of combat they bring some cool stuff. And remember you can call lower rank. Against a large group of Boosterganger, 4 local beat cops (100 hp / 8 attack per round 3D6 vs SP4) might be more interesting than 1 Marshal (50HP / 1 attack per round 4D6 or 5D6 or 6D6 AoE), Grenades are effective but not always the best answer (might break the loot, may do some collateral damage).

No place like home

"With access to an Evidence Wall, Lawmen and Medias gain a +2 bonus to Composition, Criminology, Cryptography, Deduction, Education, Forgery, Library Search, and Photograph/Film Checks as they apply to ongoing investigations.

....

When the Evidence Wall is upgraded, the bonus increases to +3 for Lawmen."

That's a good feature, not as awesome as some others. And it doesn't boost the Backup ability.

That's for GMs. A Lawman with Backup called in advance, that's a deadly combo. Don't boost this opposing force just to stop the fact they are outnumbered. That's the power of the Lawman. Of course don't let the OPFOR getting sweep all the time. You need to reach a balance. Backup can have difficulties to reach you, that's not a magical move, sometime it could be a pain in the ass to justify them coming to your rescue. That's why when they are here, they gonna be relevant. Else you are cheating de Lawman from his power.

COOL

Acting

• "Skill of assuming a role, disguising yourself as someone else, whether real or fictitious, and faking emotions and moods."

• You want your lies to sounds credible ? Put some emotions behind it. That's Acting. You want to go undercover in order to get some precious intel ? That's Acting.

Interrogation

• "Skill of forcibly extracting information from people."

• That's a brute force approach and you need some kind of leverage : fear (intimidation, blackmail), authority (NCPD badge, Corpo badge, Netwatch badge). Your target knows you want information and knows which one. That's not a subtle process, but it's effective.

Persuasion

• "Skill of convincing, persuading, or influencing individuals. Also, the ability to talk others into doing what you want. This may be used individually or on large groups."

• That's kinda the goto skill, it's very powerful. GM you really need to check the other social skills before using Persuasion, else your players will invest a lot in Persuasion and will try to explain why it applies every time. Persuasion is fine when any of the other skill works.

• Examples:

  • • no, you don't persuade him to take money in exchange of this information, that's Bribery.

    • no, you don't persuade him to talk by threatening to punch him so hard that no one will recognize him, that's Interrogation.

    • no, you don't persuade him that you are a fellow corporate guard, that's Acting.

    • Maybe your GM will be lenient and allows you to roll, but he should strike you with a much higher DV.

Streetwise

• "Skill of knowing where to get illegal and contraband things, talking to the criminal element, and avoiding bad situations in bad neighborhoods."

• Very important social skills to interact with the Street. And remember, it's always street level. You know how to behave in the most dangerous parts of the underground. That's kinda important.

INT

Bureaucracy

• "Skill for dealing with bureaucrats, cutting red tape, knowing who to talk to in a bureaucracy, how to reach them, and how to extract information from bureaucracies."

• frm u/Manunancy :

It can come very handy when you're trying to call for backup in advance and/or building a legal fig leaf to cover an intervention in questionable circumstances. And near mandatory if you made enough noise it can't be swept under the rug and you need to file a report about what the hell was going on - all in proper legalese and without embarrassing details, omissions or contradictions.

It can also give you access to restricted informations and databases - whether straight from the NCPD or from other municipal services - the NCPD may not have the plans for that corporate facility, but the fire department or safety commission may have something that's reasonably up to date (and let you know they handle volatile chemicals before the place blow up in your face when you go trigger-happy...)

And of course it lets you know for sure if that blame is just a temporary slap on the wrist or an early warning you're in on the Internal Affairs shit list...

Criminology

• "Skill of discovering clues by dusting for fingerprints, doing ballistic tests, examining evidence, and searching through police records and files."

• The most bvious skill for a cop.

Conceal/Reveal

• "That's a must have for any detective. Skill for hiding objects and finding objects that have been hidden. This is the Skill used for concealing weapons under clothing and detecting concealed weapons."

• That's a basic skill for a cop, to search weapons and drugs on a suspect. And you can hide stuff on you too. That's a pretty good deal.

Deduction

• "Skill of taking several clues and leaping to a non-obvious conclusion or medical diagnosis."

• That's a must have for any detective. It will help you if you GM is a cool one. Your character might be a lot more clever than you after all.

Education

• "Skill of general knowledge, equivalent to a basic school education, allowing you to know how to read, write, use basic math, and know enough history to get by."

• Less obvious, but in some circles it will be obvious you are uneducated and that can blow your cover up. If you aren't under cover, prejudice might raise DV you will have to beat for other check like Conversation or Persuasion. After all, your a bum, why would they listen to you.

Perception

• "Skill of spotting hidden things, like clues, traps, and people using the Stealth Skill, but not objects hidden with the Conceal/Reveal Object Skill."

• Number one skill for a detective, before even start to deduce stuff, you need to see clues.

Library search

• "Skill of using databases, the Data Pool, libraries, and other compiled information sources to find facts."

• Every investigation should start on the crime scene, then it's time to dig the social media.

Tracking

• "Skill of following a trail by observing tracks and other clues left behind."

• Not easy to pull of as a GM. How do you track someone in a town ? But sounds something worth to try. I recommend the Olfactory boost here.

DEX

Athletics

• "Skill of jumping, climbing, throwing, swimming, lifting weights, etc. It combines the basic elements of any high school-level sports program. This Skill also covers thrown weapons."

• You need to chase suspect, sooner or later

Brawling

• "Skill at fighting and grappling with brute strength."

• Grappling a suspect seems standard, well, NCPD might go for more dangerous technique, up to you.

Evasion

• "Skill for getting out of the way of someone attacking you in melee. A Character with REF 8 or higher can also use this Skill to dodge Ranged Attacks and Explosions."

• You need to survive

Stealth

• "Skill of moving quietly, hiding, doing an action discreetly, or otherwise evading detection. Other Characters can try to find you with their Perception Skill."

• We you want to follow a suspect, or stay stealthy while on surveillance.

Cyberwares

• All combat implant are good for a combat oriented Lawman.

• Cyber audio suite

  • • Voice Stress Analyzer : +2 Human perception and +2 Interrogation + Lie detector

    • Amplified Hearing: + Perception (auditive)

    • Audio recorder: for lazy detectives

    • Homing tracer: For tracking suspects

• AudioVox : +2 Acting (control over your voice)

• Neural link + Chipware Socket + Skill chip

• Cyber eyes

  • • Image enhance : +2 Perception, Conceal / Reveal and Lip reading

    • MicroOptic: Microscope x400 for Criminology check

    • TeleOptics: "User can see detail up to 800m/yds away". For stakeout

Other

• Agent : +2 W&S if you buy clothes from time to time to keep up with the last trend.

• Bug detector

That's the beauty of CPR, it's not class based but Skill based. You can choose whatever path you want. You can be leader, a brutal law enforcer, an investigator.

There are so much concept to play I can't start to list them all.

I would go for a detective, because Cyberpunk has root in the Noir genre. "It’s Always Street Level"

"A good Cyberpunk game isn’t about saving the world: it’s about saving yourself. This basic principle shows up throughout the genre. The heroes are not super heroic; at best they’re low to medium successful professionals (Humphrey Bogart’s portrayals of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade on the Silver Screen are good examples) who are often prone to having shady pasts and failures to live down. A good GM should assume the Players have basic skills but are not totally badass."

It's possible to be good in INT, COOL and EMP. You'll be a Face and a hell of an investigator. You don't need to be very good at fighting, you have Backup for that part.

Sherlock

This one is not about cyberwares or combat. It's a detective and he didn't touch any gun for many years now. He knows his way to take down someone with high level grappling. And he can throw a sleep grenade right under your nose. His mind is sharp and he wants it even more accurate. That's why he uses Boost. Well he drink alcohol too, that's another story. He can't do his job while being on the force because of corruption and because the society protect Corporation. He decided to work for a Media, he brings the intel, the proof and she is the hand of Justice. That's the deal.

With an improve wall of evidence, that's gonna be hard to escape from him. He is not against some Smash for party, and for a another point of view on people. But he refrain himself to use it too often.

INT 8(10) - REF 5 - DEX 8 - COOL 8 - TECH 2 - WILL 7 - LUCK 4 - BODY 6 - MOVE 6 - EMP 8

Role : Lawman 4

Skills

• Combat : Perception 6, Concentration 6, Resist T&D 6, Athletics 6, Brawling 6, Evasion 6, Stealth 2, First Aid 4

• Social : Interrogation 6, Conversation 6, Human perception 6

• Investigation : Deduction 6, Criminology 6, Conceal/Reveal 6, Education 4

• Misc : Local expert 2, English 4, Streetlsang 2

Gears

Cyberwares

• Neural link + Reflex co-processor

• Cheap cyberaudio suite - 100eb

• Voice stress analyser - 500eb (bonus Human Perception)

Other

• LAJ - 100eb

• Agent - 100eb

• Communicator - 50eb

• Handcuff

• Drugs : Primetime + Boost

Future

• IP spending :

  • Backup rank 5

  • Cyberwares : (no more than 5 cyberwares total, you will lose 1 points in EMP, it's compensated by the Voice stress analyser for Human Perception)

  • Chipware socket

• Gears

• Chipware

  • Acting, Library search, W&S, Bureaucracy,

  • Pain editor

  • Tactile boost

• SmartGlass TechUP (+1 slot) + LowLight/IR/UV + Enhance image (bonus Conceal/Reveal and Perception)

Lawmen need a bit of work as a group during session 0, then it offers a very wide range of characters. Your GM must work around your desire here. Because detective wants to investigate. And Backup cost a lot, GM need to make it useful. Else this awesome role will not be a good one. And everybody will continue to be a Media for investigation purpose.